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Who: Keiko Yukimura (

topoftheclass), Botan (

styxiedust), Kazuma Kuwabara (

manfulness), Jin (

thatsawiggle), and Yusuke Urameshi (

angerpoints).
Where: Azalea Town.
When: Backdated to September 18, 2013.
Summary: Dinner with the Hakubros family. Their little group just keeps growing.
Rating:PG-13?

She hadn’t really planned it out as thoroughly as she might have under other circumstances. Mostly it was just an idea that wouldn’t leave her alone. It made sense in its own way and besides who could say no to a nice hot meal waiting for them after travelling for a few days? She hoped it would work as a sort of reunion dinner since their little group seemed to be growing in the short time she’d been in the world of Pokemon. And just like that Keiko decided the idea would be reality and passed along the word to Botan and Jin.

In reality, it turned out to be more that both Yusuke and Kuwabara were in Azalea for a few days before the dinner actually happened. This was mostly due to the fuzziness of travel time and her taking the time to actually figure out a menu. But tonight was the night. She’d laid out the picnic blanket between town and the well to give a sense of privacy. The basket was open but still mostly packed to keep the food warm against the slight chill of the evening. The plates and silverware set in the middle of the blanket. Fall was descending and it struck her as surprising that she’d be witnessing the changing of the seasons in another world.

She planned for the meal to be served family style, especially since for the time being they were all the family any of them had. Lighting a few candles, Keiko sat down and waited for her friends to arrive a contented smile on her face. She’d been looking forward to this little get together. Things weren’t quite the same without Kuwabara around, whether not everyone agreed with that was somewhat debatable but she was pretty sure Yusuke had missed him even if he wouldn’t say it. The only worry left was that she’d made enough food to feed three ridiculously active boys.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Botan's usually in a good mood, but this month in particular has been very good to her between choosing a birthday for herself with Keiko and making it to a new town.

It's silly, but it made her feel more like she actually belonged among humans now.

Not that she would ever bring that up, especially not when Keiko approached her with the idea of throwing a little party for themselves to greet the newly-arrived Kuwabara.

So the former reaper breezes in, all sunshine and flowers as always. "Keikoooo!"

A party just for him! Well, it was more or less to celebrate everyone being together, but it sure made him feel special. He was already getting accustomed to this crazy world--slowly but surely, as he was a dry sponge soaking in a lake--and even though there were many, many unfamiliar things floating around, he sure was glad to have his family-away-from-family around him.

And food.

Mostly the people, but the food was a definite bonus. REturning Fumiko the Skitty to her pokéball (for now, at least), he hurried back from his brief exploration and 'security sweep' of the area and headed over to the blanket, grinning at the two girls before him.

"Hey, ladies! You guys excited? 'Cause I know I am!"

And just as that statement left Kuwabara's mouth... wham! Down came a hand on his back, as its owner, a certain Yusuke Urameshi, came up behind him to join the group, a big, shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get too excited, Kuwabara. You don't wanna embarrass yourself before the party even starts," he said, his voice a teasing drawl. Ah, poor Kuwabara - while Keiko's suspicions about Yusuke having missed him weren't at all misplaced, the fact of the matter was that Yusuke was rarely inclined to express his feelings like a well-adjusted person, and so, rather than show Kuwabara how glad he was to have him here through words or kind gestures, he had instead done so through making a concentrated effort to be as big of a pain in the big guy's ass as possible. Trash-talking him, pushing him around... he hadn't done anything that would fall outside of their normal routine of being punks to one another, true, but it would still be an understatement to say that Yusuke here had been acting like an even bigger punk than usual. Such was the joy of being his best friend!

Fortunately, though, even Yusuke sometimes has a decent sense of timing, so in spite of his rather, uh, forceful entrance, he wasn't planning on actively trying to ruin their little dinner party with his attitude. Hell, he'd even been looking forward to this himself, though he definitely wasn't as outwardly excited about it as Kuwabara was. Picnics generally weren't his idea of fun, but after having spent the first couple months of his time here in Johto without any of his friends from home to keep him company, he couldn't deny that he was glad to have the opportunity to spend time with them like this. He just wished that Touya would've been able to join them.

At any rate, once he'd duly imparted that nugget of wisdom upon dear Kuwabara (alongside that very solid thump on the back), Yusuke stepped around him and over the picnic basket to join Keiko on the ground.

"So hey, Keiko, what's on the menu? I'm starving!"

Speaking of people who wish Touya had been able to stick around for this little shindig! Jin swung down from the branch of a tree by his knees like a kid, long red hair at everyone else's head level and wearing a huge grin on his face.

"Hope 'm not late! Nothin' like the scent o' good food on the air t'bring people t'gether, is what I say!"

He deposited a curious little Smoochum onto the blanket, who then toddled over to Kuwabara (picking her way delicately around the bowls spread out on the blanket) and stared up at him expectantly, one little hand on a popped hip. Apparently, Sawakou liked redheads, and even though Jin was her one true dad, she'd taken a fairly quick liking to the tall, boisterous carrot-top over the last few days.

"This place is a right fair lot better than the last'n, ye know? A lotta more trees, there are, and bigger and taller ones, too! Nothin' like sittin' in a treetop feelin' the wind on yer face! 'Cept feelin' it yerself by flyin', o' course, but long as we're here, anyhow, 's about as good as they come!" Jin righted himself on the branch and then dropped down onto the ground, sitting cross-legged at one side of the blanket, directly across from Yusuke.

"Ah-! 'Kou's not botherin' ye, is she Kuwabara?" he asked, moving to reclaim his Smoochum if Kuwabara wasn't fine with her attention. "Didn' think t'ask if I could bring 'er, I made 'er a promise she'd never see the inside o' one o' those balls again."

Grinning Keiko got up to meet her friend. There was an energy in the air that screamed excitement. It felt almost like normal, like the card games in the hotel rooms on Hanging Neck Island. “I’m so glad we’re doing this. I haven’t looked forward to anything quite as much as this in the last two months.” Maybe that wasn’t something she should have admitted aloud but as well as she was adjusting to Johto she still missed home to a certain degree.

And with Kuwabara’s arrival she nodded. Eyes rolling as she watched Yusuke play out his typical dick greeting. Yep definitely, a normal get together between friends. She was however going to wait for Jin to make an appearance before she answered his question about dinner and motioned for him to wait a moment.

It was just luck that Jin was nearby and once he was firmly settled back on terra firma with the rest of them she started unpacking the picnic basket, announcing each menu item as she placed its container on the blanket. There was a large bowl of rice, a platter of chicken teriyaki, another bowl with cucumber salad, and a pot of still steaming miso soup. She was still a little iffy on if she made enough, but she was fairly sure she’d covered everyone getting at least two helpings out of everything, possibly three when all was said and done.

“And a pot of tea,” she announced as she removed covers from containers, and set about pouring tea for anyone that wanted a cup.